The decision by former HBOS chief executive Sir James Crosby to resign his knighthood is encouraging testimony to the power of shame. Crosby, head of HBOS from 2001-06, was heavily criticised in last week’s damning Banking Standards Commission’s report: it called him the “architect” of the disastrous strategy of reckless lending which brought the bank to its knees. Crosby’s gesture, and his forgoing of 30 per cent of his pension and resignation from the board of Compass, proves that such public shaming can have a salutary effect.

Former HBOS chief executive Sir James Crosby has stepped down as non-executive director of catering firm Compass Group and said he wants to be stripped of his knighthood in the light of last week's scathing report into the bank's collapse.

Sir Richard Branson, asked if his new Little Red route into Edinburgh would see the male cabin crew wear kilts — as he did on the inaugural flight — responded: “We might have to name it Big Red... but I’ll do some blogs and tweets and see if enough people want the guys to wear a kilt, then we will do that.”

The Business Secretary has ordered an investigation into whether the three former HBOS directors blamed for the banking group's collapse can be banned as company directors for life, it has been reported.

The London housing market is being squeezed at both ends. The shortage of affordable housing in the city as a whole is obvious but now rents in the most expensive boroughs have reached levels that would once have seemed incredible. In four postcodes, as we report today, average rents now exceed £5,000 a month. This is in large part a result of demand being driven up by the influx of wealthy foreigners into the richer boroughs: high-end London property is seen as a safe investment for those who need a haven for their money, for instance, from the stricken eurozone. But the effect, to turn parts of central London into homogenous enclaves for the rich, many of whom do not actually live there, is depressing.

Two former bosses of HBOS, the bank which had to be bailed out by the government and taken over by Lloyds at the height of the financial crisis, today admitted that it had taken greater risks than it should.